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The Tongji Bridge (), is a famous
The bridge nowadays is still in use and has busy traffic every day. The bridge has three
A photo album of Yuyao Tongji Bridge
Tourism guidance for Yuyao Tongji Bridge
{{coord, 30, 02, 49.44, N, 121, 09, 26.93, E, source:zhwiki, display=title Arch bridges in China Bridges in Ningbo Chinese architectural history Stone bridges in China Yuyao
stone
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
arch bridge
An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...
located in Yuyao
Yuyao () is a county-level city in the northeast of Zhejiang province, China. It is under the jurisdiction of the sub-provincial city of Ningbo.
It is located west of central Ningbo, east of Hangzhou, bordering Hangzhou Bay in the north. Yuyao ...
, Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...
, China. "''Tongji Bridge''" ("''Tong''" means transport/transportantion, "''Ji''" means aid or cross a river) is a very common name for bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
s in ancient China
The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...
.
History
The bridge has a very long history. It is the first large-sized arch bridge in the Eastern Zhejiang region, so it's also called the ''First Bridge of Eastern Zhe'' (); "''Zhe''" is the short name for Zhejiang Province). The construction of the bridge started first during the Qingli Era (1041–1048; ) of theNorthern Song Dynasty
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ra ...
, and it was wooden
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin tha ...
structure. Its original name was Dehui Bridge (). And its name later was changed to Hong Bridge (; "''Hong''" means rainbow
A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...
). It was destroyed in wars and reconstructed for several times.
In Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
, a Buddhist monk named Huixing () started rebuilding the bridge using rocks, but he died when the construction was half-finished. Then a Taoist
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...
named Li Daoning () continued his unfinished work. In the third year (year 1332) of the Zhishun Era () of the Yuan dynasty, the bridge was finally finished, and was renamed as "''Tongji Bridge''". There was a stone tablet
Tablet may refer to:
Medicine
* Tablet (pharmacy), a mixture of pharmacological substances pressed into a small cake or bar, colloquially called a "pill"
Computing
* Tablet computer, a mobile computer that is primarily operated by touching the s ...
aside the bridge, and there were eight character
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
s on the stele
A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...
- ''Hai Bo Guo er Feng Fan bu Xie'' (), which means ship
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
s can go through the bridge's arch without any obstacles.
From the 7th to the 9th Year (1729–1731) of the Yongzheng Era in Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
, the local government repaired and rebuilt most part of the bridge again, and that's the bridge nowadays looks like.
Present
The bridge nowadays is still in use and has busy traffic every day. The bridge has three span
Span may refer to:
Science, technology and engineering
* Span (unit), the width of a human hand
* Span (engineering), a section between two intermediate supports
* Wingspan, the distance between the wingtips of a bird or aircraft
* Sorbitan ester ...
s, with the central/main span the largest one, and the rest two are equal. The main span is 14.2 meter. The total length of the bridge is about 50 meters. It has 106 steps.
In front of the bridge, it was the old city gate of Yuyao, which is also an ancient structure which is named Shunjiang Building (). The bridge and the old city gate together now are the key cultural relic under the city's protection.
See also
* Tongji Bridge: a ''Tongji Bridge'' located inJinhua
, alternately romanized as Kinhwa, is a prefecture-level city in central Zhejiang province in eastern China. It borders the provincial capital of Hangzhou to the northwest, Quzhou to the southwest, Lishui to the south, Taizhou to the east, ...
, Zhejiang Province.
* Arch bridge
An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...
References
External links
*A photo album of Yuyao Tongji Bridge
Tourism guidance for Yuyao Tongji Bridge
{{coord, 30, 02, 49.44, N, 121, 09, 26.93, E, source:zhwiki, display=title Arch bridges in China Bridges in Ningbo Chinese architectural history Stone bridges in China Yuyao